


Of Exhuberance and First Kisses

by aflawedfashion



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Darillium side adventures, F/F, F/M, Femslash, Romance, Stormcage Containment Facility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 08:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17179703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflawedfashion/pseuds/aflawedfashion
Summary: The Doctor and River return to Stormcage one last time





	Of Exhuberance and First Kisses

The Doctor stepped from her bright, warm TARDIS into the cold, dim Stormcage Containment Facility, an eerie calmness washing over her. The last prisoner had been transferred out the day before her TARDIS landed, and she was free to enjoy herself without the interference of guards who tended to accuse her of being an unwanted intruder, a decidedly false accusation. Someone always wanted her there - sometimes several someones. 

She listened to the rain tapping against the walls and stopped to take in the familiar scent in a way she never could during her more clandestine visits. 

Objectively, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant scent - clean and chemical - but it reminded her of youth and exuberance, of first kisses and sneaking out on her oblivious in-laws… at least, she liked to believe they were oblivious no matter how many times River claimed Amy was too smart to fall for the Doctor’s preposterous alibis. 

Memory was strange that way. It transformed mundane associations into magical mementos of your wife’s life while conveniently ignoring the murky puddles that formed in the icy corners of a prison built to contain the worst criminals in all of history. 

With a nostalgic smile, The Doctor shoved her hands in her pockets and meandered toward the only cell that mattered. River’s cell. Her wife’s cell. Over the course of her excessively long life, once-important details blurred, and fond memories grew fuzzy, but she remembered walking this path as clearly as if she had last walked it yesterday.

Her memories were so vivid she could practically see a flash of curly hair through the bars. “Hello sweetie,” the owner of the curly hair said, and the doctor’s heart soared with the realization that it wasn’t a strangely vivid memory afterall. It was the most unexpected and perfect gift the universe could have given her.

“You do know this prison is closed, don’t you?” River asked.

“I do.” The Doctor playfully scrunched her nose, and stood on her toes in excitement. “But I’m not sure you do.” 

“Oh, I was released years ago. I’m just visiting.” River tossed her book aside, trailing her hand across the wall as she approached the Doctor. “One of my students mentioned my old home in a project, and I suppose…” River leaned against the open cell door. “I suppose I grew a bit nostalgic. Had to visit before they knocked it down.” 

“Your old home?” The Doctor asked, a cold shiver of regret running through her body. “I know you always said you didn’t mind it here, but isn’t calling it home a stretch?”

“No,” River said, calm and relaxed, as if she had expected the Doctor to visit, as if this conversation was inevitable. “Some of my happiest memories were here. Well,” River smiled at her memories in the distance, “most of them involve breaking out of Stormcage rather than staying in.” She touched her fingers to the doctor’s collar where a bowtie once rested, and the Doctor wished she had pulled it out of storage for the occasion. “But some of them were here.” 

“Our first kiss,” The Doctor said with only a hint of embarrassment clouding the otherwise fond memory.

“ _ Your _ first kiss,” River corrected. “Right here in this very spot.”

“I was so young and silly back then. I don’t know how you put up with me.”

“You were unexpectedly charming.” River smiled and tilted her head to the side. Her eyes lost focus for a moment, and the Doctor knew she was once again replaying a memory in her mind. 

“I wish I could be him again for you,” The Doctor said as the soft smile on River’s face struck an illogical twinge of jealousy into her hearts. “You stay the same for me, but I keep changing on you.”

“Don’t worry about me, Doctor. I love how you keep me on my toes, and besides, I know where to find him, to find  _ you _ .” River lifted her arm to show off her vortex manipulator. “But you’ve found him again too. That silliness - I can see it in your eyes. You’re happy again.” 

“I was happy on Darillium…” The Doctor winced, and words began rapidly tumbling out of her mouth. “Oh, I mean… forget that. I said nothing. Nothing at all.”

River’s eyes glimmered with mischief. “Too late, Doctor.” 

”As usual, I am an idiot, but please just tell me that wasn’t a spoiler. I‘m supposed to be better at this by now. I’ve had lifetimes of practice.”

“No, not a spoiler.” River ran her hand down the Doctor’s arm. “Speaking of which, I should be getting back to Darillium, back to you.” 

The doctor turned her head to the side and laughed. “I knew you liked to sneak out at night… but…” She leaned in closer to her wife. “Did I not just hear you mention a student… Are you telling me that you sneak out _to_ _teach_?”

“Well, you can’t expect me to stay in one place for 24 entire years. I would go mad.” 

“Of course I wouldn’t.” The Doctor grinned in adoration. Her wife would always live her own life in her own way. “I never could - just like when you were here. I never expected you to sit around all the time.” 

“And I never will.” River smiled with all the happiness of life well lived. “Now you know why I’m here, but I still don’t know what brought you here.”

“Not that interesting of a story, really. I found one of your fellow prisoners hopping around the past with one of those infernal vortex manipulators.” She flashed an exaggerated frown. “I hate to think about how many still exist even after I…” the doctor looked into River’s eyes and realized this was one act of destruction she would not appreciate. “Never mind that. All that matters is I’m here.” 

“If you were trying to turn your prisoner in, you arrived a tad late.” River playfully arched an eyebrow. “Don’t you dare blame the TARDIS for sending you to the wrong date.” 

“I wouldn’t dare because she didn’t.” The Doctor twisted one of River’s curls around her finger. She missed waking up beside that hair. “I suppose I was feeling just as nostalgic as you.”

“We’re just a couple of nostalgic idiots,” River said. “How did that happen?”

“I guess it happens to all of us in old age.” 

“It happened to you because you spend too much time with humans,” River said. “And I’m hardly old.”

“Well, I certainly am.”

“Sweetie, you’ll live forever. You’re just starting out.” 

“It doesn’t work that way.” 

“It does for you.” River wrapped her fingers around the Doctor’s hand and squeezed her palm. “You’ll walk with the immortals to the end of time.” 

“Come with me,” The Doctor said, growing uncomfortable talking about her age and her future. 

“To the end of time?”

“To my TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “I have new friends for you to meet.” 

“What makes you think I haven’t met them already?” 

“Oh!” the Doctor scrunched her nose as she tried to remember something she wasn’t sure ever actually happened. “Have you?

“Honestly?” River softly laughed at their complicated relationship, or maybe she laughed at the Doctor herself. After so much time with a grumpy Scotsman, her latest form would certainly cause amusement. “I have no idea,” she said. “Diary’s back on Darillium. I thought we were done with timey wimey.” 

“We’ll never be done.” The doctor smiled and hoped it was the truth.

“No,” River said. “I suppose we won’t.” 

“So, come meet the fam.” The Doctor began leading River back to the TARDIS. “You may need to lie about having met them already.”

“I do so love pretending to be clueless about your life.”

“I know you do.” The Doctor laughed. “It’s infuriating.”

“But you love me for it,” River teased. 

“With both my hearts.” The Doctor spun in a circle, her coat swishing in the air the way River always loved. The gesture didn’t quite fit her anymore, but it sure was fun. “And my friends will love you too!” She stopped in her tracks, her face falling serious. “Hopefully not in the same way.”

“I can’t help who falls in love with me, dear,” River said in an irresistibly rich, flirtatious voice that caused the Doctor to worry for her companions’ hearts.

“Can you at least make an attempt?” The Doctor had stopped walking, but River hadn’t. “I’ve always been rubbish at love triangles.” 

“It’s beyond my control,” River said, motioning for the Doctor to follow her. “Come along, now. I have people I need to meet… or remeet.” 


End file.
